Inside My Lesson Plans

How do I know what to teach?

How long should the day be?

What order do I do things in?

How does my child know what to do each day?

All valid questions!  And all pretty easy to answer, so let's jump right in!

You can and swill doubt find a TON of lesson planners out there.  There was a time when they were made specifically geared towards public school teachers, but somewhere along the way they became more open ended and homeschool friendly.  I have owned many different kinds and even used a few for a year, but honestly, I always find myself coming back to this year after year, this year included.

Yep!  A notebook. 

Seriously here's the deal.  Most curriculum comes with lesson plans, (that's how you know WHAT to teach) so you the teacher can know what to do on the next day.  And the next and the next.  Unless you are completely winging it on your own, most of the hard work is done for you.

The bigger dilemma is how to get that knowledge from you to your child.  AKA- the student.  I have been know to just use the curriculum lesson plans and make a check mark next to an assignment one it was done, but if you end up teaching multiple students multiple years, that's a lot of check marks and it gets messy! 

Not to mention some lesson plans are truly intended for a teacher and have far more information in them than your child needs and is likely to confuse or overwhelm them.

Hence, a notebook.

Each day, prior to your child sitting down for work you just list the subjects and write what they are responsible for getting done that day.  I usually write things out for a week in advance.  I have done more at one time, but sometimes life gets the best of you and you have to adjust and for me that is a lot of marking out things and re-writing things that is a waste of time.  I have learned not to get too far ahead of myself.

Each subject has a place for my child to check off once they are done. (That's how long your day should be.  All checked off- all done!)  I usually list things in the same order each day, but for the most part my child chooses what they want to do first, and so on. (Who cares what order as long as it is done!?  The exception for us would be if we ended each day in tears over the hardest subject they have been avoiding until the end.  Then I might insist we start with that subject for a while until we get our emotions under control.)  Theirs, not mine! ;)

For record purposes, I list all of the curriculum we are using in the front cover, and keep a list of all of the books we read that year in the back.  If a state ever wanted to see our "records" or attendance, I could pull it out quickly and they could easily see what we have done.

Just a side note- NO ONE has ever asked to see our records!  I have them in case, but honestly the school systems have enough on their plates usually to worry about what homeschoolers are doing.  I think through the years homeschoolers have proven their commitment to teaching and teaching well.

Anyway- the point being...if you love all things planners and fancy systems, by all means go grab one and get busy filling it in!  If it brings you joy then that is just one more way to make your day a good one.

BUT, do not feel pressured into filling in little boxes with colored pens if that is not you. 

The point of a planner is to keep a record of your day and let your student know what to do for each subject.  There is more that one way to skin a cat.   

A notebook is an easy way! ;)

Blessings,

Plans, Anyone? A Review for You!

It's pitiful, I know, but one of my favorite things in the world is planning.  I don't know if it is just a pen and paper thing or simply the excitement of seeing something new on the horizon, but I love planning of all kinds.  It tends to drive my family crazy sometimes.

Especially the kids when I start planning for a new school year.  OK, never mind that it sometimes starts just months after beginning a new year.  Hey, I can't help there is so much curriculum out there to explore!  Seriously, the battle is real!

And yes, I KNOW there are a lot of new digital ways out there to help with planning, but I am a paper kind of gal.  Always have been, probably always will be!  And with a planner like the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year, why would I stop now?

Let me remind you that this mama has been homeschooling for over 22 years now.  Two of my babies have graduated from college, one is a senior in high school and is only taking online classes exclusively now, and our last will start 7th grade July 1st!  All that to say this is not my first rodeo and I have tried lots of planners.



Yep, the Hey, Mama! Homeschool Planner for 2019/20 Year, created by The Old Schoolhouse® owner Gena Suarez,  is still one of my favorite and what we will be using this year as well. 

It is a beautiful spiral bound planner that allows you to start planning in July and goes to June 2020!  Perfect for those of us who homeschool year round! 

Let me tell you what I love!

• July-June two page spread calendars make the boxes large enough to actually write things in!

• 40 weekly planning pages that allow you to plan for up to 5 children at a time!

• Between each month's calendar page is a Hey Mama! note of encouragement from Gena.  From the subject of Joy to Fail Days, (yes those do exist in our house too) her beautiful words are from her heart, based on the Word of God, and feel like they came straight from the mouth of your best friend to you!

• A full notes page is between each months calendar for you to write in ideas, reminders, plans, etc.

• 7 spaces for subjects each week!

• Full color, heavy front and back pages make it durable AND attractive!

• A academic transcript you can use with instructions on the How-Tos!

• A skills learned checklist.

• Back section for each child that allows you to record curriculum choices with all the details, attendance chart, books read list, yearly goals page, semester goals page, and an additional notes page. Remember- up to 5 children!

   

Now, because I am only technically planning and schooling one child this year I have made a few moderations.  The biggest is that instead of using the full two page spread weekly planning pages, I divide them up and only use on page per week.  Yes that will leave lots of pages "extra" at the end of the 40 weeks of school, but because we school year round there are no worries they won't get used.  They will!  Just don't tell my kiddo!  Here is an example-

 
Love it and want it?  Be quick in ordering!  The last I heard they had sold out of 98% of their print run (doesn't surprise me, they always go quick!) and will not print any more until next year!

Blessings!

Why Color Coding Still Works

I think it was a few years ago that I began color coding my kids' school supplies for the upcoming school year.  I cannot remember where I first saw the idea, but it appealed to the artsy side of me. You know, the "I really want to be a good mom and teacher and cool in the kids eyes," but don't have a creative bone in my body thing.  Finding matching notebooks and such, now THAT I could do!

As for impressing the kiddos, well, I am not sure how impressed they were, but hey, they did like the fun colors.  That being said, don't pick hard colors.  Not every school supply comes in orange or purple.

So why color code?

It's fun!  If not for the kids, at least for mom!  I know that some people stress about finding school supplies.  I am pretty sure I would too if I was given a three page list of the things my kids needed. But hey, when you get to decide what your kids will use for the school year, it can be like a treasure hunt.  Have a little fun looking for blue scissors or green tape dispensers!

It helps you stay organized.  When you are schooling multiple children, finding the right notebook to grade a child's work can get challenging.  Even with just a few kids, the number of notebooks stacked up at the end of the day can be overwhelming.  When I can narrow down the potentials by a simple glance of color, I am thrilled.  I can further help myself out by making each of the notebooks in one color slightly different.  Trust me, by the end of the year you will know that the 4th grader's math is in the blue Star Wars folder!

It gives kids ownership!  I don't know why, but there is just something about personalizing kids' things that gives them more ownership and therefore more responsibility for something.  It's like adding their name to an item.  All of a sudden it belongs to them and they take better care of it. Finally, that "mine, all mine" attitude is a good thing!

Just a quick disclaimer- color coding does not have to break the bank!  With back to school sales, you can get notebooks for 17 cents each.  Nothing in our piles was more than about $1!  For $5 you can have a lot of fun!

So color coding - simple, but effective!  Hey, it's the little things, right?

Blessings,

Planning 101- 5 Day Blog Hop

Welcome back to Day 2 of our Schoolhouse Review Crew's 5 Days of Homeschool 101!   Now that you have chosen the curriculum, what's next? How about a little planning! This is the part that excites me.  I live by calendars and schedules and the challenge of planning excites me.  Hey, it's the little things that bring us joy, right?  Panning your homeschool calendar is much like putting together a puzzle.  It may take a little patience and some rearranging, but in the end, a beautiful thing comes in sight! Promise! So where do we start? Grab a calendar!  Most curriculums account for a 36 week school year, so go ahead, circle and number your weeks.  In pencil, of course.  We all know that the best laid plans get derailed sometimes.  If you school year round, you have a little more flexibility.  If you follow more of a public school calendar then you will need to find one online and copy it.  The past few years we have followed a Sabbath school schedule, doing school for 6 weeks and then taking a week off.  That has to be modified occasionally due to holidays or unexpected events, but on a whole it has worked well for us.   Make a chart!  While we do not follow a strict hourly schedule, we do plan our day out.  By having a chart visible with the days' plan on it, your child will know what to expect and when.  We list things like wake up, breakfast, start time, lunch, quiet time and dinner.  We keep a separate family calendar with any appointments and re-occurring events such as lessons on it, but this chart stays in the school room so your child can see at a quick glance what they should be doing and what is next.  If you like a more detailed plan, Managers of Their School and Managers of Their Home are great resources from Titus 2 Ministries.  In our early years of schooling little people, those books helped me maintain my sanity. Use the syllabus!  Thank goodness many homeschool curriculums out there come with a daily schedule.  If that is the case, all you have to do is follow that schedule and you are good.  If not, you will have to do a little math to figure out the pages or lessons you have and the weeks you have to do them in.  A little division later, you should know about how much you need to cover each day or week. Find a notebook!  Last year we decided to write all of our assignments in a plain notebook.  After years of using fancy planners and such, we have found this way to be the easiest for us.  Each week I simply write out all of the subjects in the child's notebook and the corresponding assignment.  When they are done with that assignment, they add a sticker or a check mark so I know they are done.  Easy peasey! Done with your planning?  Time to get started!

Blessings,

Planning and Organizing Our Day (And book giveaway!)

For many of you, school has already started.  Backpacks are packed, lunches are made, and notebooks have been bought.  Usually, the same is true here.  Well, minus the backpacks and lunches!  For as long as I can remember we have started back to school with our new grades in August.  This year, well, let's just say we are a little distracted with Dad coming home for two weeks.

Sometimes distraction is good! ;)

But, as soon as he heads out again, the school bell is going to ring!  And we are ready.  Mostly!

On the 31st I am going to share what we will be using for curriculum this year, but today I want to talk to you a little about how we plan and organize our year.  Each year looks a little different, but here are some things that work for us.

A loose schedule.  For many years we ran a pretty tight ship around here.  As a matter of fact, by using the ideas found in the Titus 2 Ministries book,  Managers of Their Schools, we had our day very well planned.  I loved it!  Teri, a fellow homeschooling mom of 8, has a great chart method and color coding system to help you find the best schedule for your family.  Her book also includes other wonderful tips that helped keep me sane when I was schooling four kids and I think her book should be required reading for all homeschoolers, new and veterans alike!  Teri has graciously offered to give one of our readers a FREE copy of Managers of Their Schools.  You can enter to win with the rafflecopter at the end of this post!

Now that I am down to teaching one 3rd grader and supervising an 8th grader who is overall pretty self-sufficient, we are a little more relaxed.  The plan is to start school by 9 every morning, breaking for lunch at noon, and then resuming school until about 3 or 4.  Our Fridays are lighter work days with only a few subjects taught.

Sabbath Week Scheduling- This worked so well for us last year that we will do it again.  The premise is schooling for 6 weeks and then taking a week off to rest and regroup.  That week is a great time for field trips, vacations, and projects around the house. Things may get a little crazy around our move time, but we will do the best we can!

Assignment notebook- We have used a fancy planner in the past.  Several actually.  They never seem to fit our exact needs and become burdensome when everyone's assignments are in one place that is in my possession.  It makes for a lot of back and forth finding mom and the planner which just discourages everyone.  So this year, it is back to a simple spiral notebook.  Nothing fancy, just practical.  Each night I will write the child's assignments in the notebook under the correct date and they will check off the box when they complete each assignment.  Yep, that is it.  I have learned after 16 years of homeschooling that it is futile for us to plan more than one day at a time anyway,  Life happens and I get tired of erasing well laid plans in frustration and discouragement,  This way, each night I spend 10 minutes writing down the next day's assignments.  It also allows me the chance to check up after each child and monitor their progress.

Color Coding.  This may seems silly to you, but it was a God-send to us last year so we are doing it again.  Plus, it is fun!  Each child is assigned a color and their notebooks and such are all that particular color.  No confusion for them, easy for me to find their stuff at a glance, and no arguing over whose is whose (I have two boys remember?!).  On the first day of school I have all of their new stuff sitting on the table for them with a few surprises.  Word of warning- black is NOT the best color to choose!  Finding notebooks was easy- after that, I had to be creative.  Luckily, Salem does not care nearly as much as Colby!

Anything else?  Oh, I am sure I will think of something last minute- I always do!  Until then, we are trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer!

Happy schooling!

And don't forget to enter to win a copy of Managers of Their Schools!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Linking up with friends-

On September 8th, this post will be linked with the Carnival of Homeschooling!  Be sure to check out all of the posts to help motivate you in your homeschooling!  September's posts will be hosted by Nerd Family!

Blessings,

Planning and resting

Taking today off, my friends.  My 15 year old daughter has been sick for over 6 weeks now and after multiple visits to various doctors she has finally been diagnosed with mono.  We are NOT having fun at our house right now.  Her temperature is up and her spirits are down.  She is tired and so is mom.

So we are taking a few extra quiet days to rest and regroup.

And plan!  Yes, I am busy writing 5 new posts for you.   I will be kicking off a new Fun Friday April series called Saving Money in the Kitchen by posting next Wednesday on Budgeting! 

See 'ya next week!
Have a blessed Easter,